Thursday, September 22, 2011

Tiger Filling Out His Fall Schedule--in Japan

Thanks to Larry the Looper for a link to the news that Tiger Woods will play a 9-hole exhibition on November 1 against JLPGA stars Miho Koga, Shinobu Moromizato, and Rui Kitada at the site of the Masters GC Ladies in Miki City, Hyogo, Japan. (Although I shouldn't be thanking Mr. Life on Tour for the link because all I needed to do was visit Tiger's own website!) The total donation for Japanese tsunami/earthquake relief will be 45 million yen, divided equally among the 3 hardest-hit prefectures.

Imagine how much more they could have raised if they had landed Japanese women who are actually playing some good golf right now like Sakura Yokomine, Chie Arimura, and Miki Saiki--or even bigger global stars like Ai Miyazato, Mika Miyazato, and Yuri Fudoh. Sure, Koga won there more recently and more often than Ai Miyazato (2006 and 2007 vs. 2004), but Yokomine is the defending champion (and will have taken her shot at the title defense a couple of weeks before the start of the exhibition) and is currently #2 on the JLPGA money list, while Kitada at #13 is the highest-ranked of those actually playing (Moromizato's at #34 and Koga's at #46).

Sounds to me like someone's worried about being upstaged at "Challenge! Tiger Woods"--or maybe it's just that TW's advances were rejected by those who are already bigger stars than he is in Japan!